Nagaland deputy chief minister Y Patton on Tuesday called on Union DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed a wide range of issues related to development projects and proposals submitted by the state government.
Dr Singh informed Patton that as a special consideration and priority, the Centre has sanctioned a second Government Medical College within a short span of three years.
“It is an irony that for over 70 years after independence, Nagaland was possibly the only state in the country which did not have a single medical college of its own, which led to inconvenience to the patients as well as aspiring Medicos who were constrained to travel outside the state,” said Dr Singh.
Dr Singh further noted that for a small state with a population of just about 20 lakh, two centrally funded medical colleges are an indication of the priority that the central government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi accords to the Northeast and the peripheral far-flung states like Nagaland.
While the first-ever medical college for Nagaland was sanctioned about three years back for the capital city of Kohima, the second medical college has now been sanctioned to be located at district Mon in Eastern Nagaland.
Deputy CM Patton also took up with the DoNER minister the state projects to be executed under NERDS (North East Region Development Scheme). He expressed keenness to expedite the road project of Chan Dang Sadle to Noklak which is about 31 km.
Dr Singh observed that all the schemes sanctioned by the DoNER ministry and the North Eastern Council (NEC) are based on the priority cited by the respective state governments.
He said there has been certain inevitable delay in some projects due to unfortunate COVID conditions, and added that the DoNER ministry has been coming forth to provide financial assistance to the Northeast governments in the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic.